CRANBERY, Pa. -- Kyle Dubas had a busy last few days, to say the least.
The Penguins opened the first day of free agency on Monday with nine signings -- seven new signings, and two re-signings -- and traded Reilly Smith to the Rangers. That's in addition to a pair of deals made over the weekend -- one to acquire Kevin Hayes, then another minor-league deal -- and bolstering the prospect pool with the six members of the 2024 draft class.
It's a lot of change. Here's a look at who is in, who re-signed, and who is out after all of the signings and the major-league trades made today and over the weekend. Click the links on each name for more information:
IN
Kevin Hayes, center/wing: 32-year-old forward with a $3,571,429 cap hit, acquired along with second-round pick from Blues for future considerations. Dubas said Monday he expects Hayes to start at center
Anthony Beauvillier, center/wing: 27-year-old forward signed to a one-year, $1.25 million deal. Projects to play in bottom-six.
Matt Grzelcyk, defense: 30-year-old, two-way puck-moving defenseman signed to a one-year, $2.75 million contract. Played for David Quinn in college.
Blake Lizotte, center: 26-year-old, defensive, bottom-six penalty-killer. The only signing to earn more than one year, Lizotte signed for two years at $1.85 million per year.
Boko Imama, wing: 27-year-old forechecking enforcer who signed for one year at the league minimum. Destined for AHL to start, but can be recalled when toughness is needed.
Jimmy Huntington, center: 25-year-old depth signing for the minors, a one-year, league-minimum deal. Brings Calder Cup experience to Wilkes-Barre.
Nate Clurman, defenseman: 26-year-old who brings much-needed right-handed defensemen depth to the minors. Another one-year, league-minimum deal.
Mac Hollowell, defenseman: 25-year-old who brings more depth to the right side of the blue line for the minors, on another one-year, league-minimum contract. Drafted by Dubas in the NHL with Toronto, and by Dubas into the OHL with the Soo Greyhounds.
RE-SIGNED
Emil Bemstrom, wing: 25-year-old who signed a one-year, league-minimum deal after skating in a bottom-six wing role last season after the trade.
Ryan Shea, defense: 27-year-old defenseman on another one-year, league-minimum deal. Fit well on the Penguins' third pairing late in the season, but a crowded blue line may have him back in the AHL to start.
OUT
Reilly Smith, wing: Just didn't work out in Pittsburgh, shipped off to the Rangers for a second- and fifth-round pick.
P.O Joseph, defense: Nothing's official yet -- Joseph didn't sign anywhere, and Dubas said Monday that the door isn't shut on Joseph. But he went unqualified and the Penguins lost his exclusive negotiating rights, allowing Joseph to test free agency. Even if Joseph does circle back, it's hard to see where he fits now after Grzelcyk signed.
Jansen Harkins, wing: Not signed by anyone on Monday, but that door appears to be shut.
Jeff Carter, center/wing: Retired after the season finale.
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With all those changes, how might the lineup look when healthy? Here's a crack at it:
Drew O'Connor - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Anthony Beauvillier - Kevin Hayes - Jesse Puljujarvi/Valtteri Puustinen
Matt Nieto - Lars Eller/Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
Matt Grzelcyk - Jack St. Ivany
John Ludvig
Tristan Jarry
Alex Nedeljkovic
That roster (along with $1.25 million retained on Smith, $1,562,500 retained on Jeff Petry and $916,667 in dead space from Jack Johnson buyout) would give the Penguins roughly $3.5 million in cap space. Dubas wants to go into the season with somewhat of a cushion cap-wise for potential recalls. Nieto will also start the season on season-opening injured reserve, which would provide cap relief for as long as he's out.
Still, that gives the Penguins some room left to make moves, though it's not quite clear where. Spots are filled. One issue that comes up at first glance is that the Penguins have one too many natural centers, even with Acciari on the wing. Could the Lizotte signing make someone like Eller expendable in a future trade?
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"It's probably not as extravagant as in years past," Dubas said in his press conference at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex of his work to open free agency. "But that's the strategy, and that's what we're going to execute on."
I don't know if "extravagant" is the right word for what happened on this day last season. But with signings like Graves, Eller, Acciari and Nieto to multi-year deals, it was certainly a day full of bigger moves. And the result was the same as it was the season before -- just barely missing the playoffs. So, they pivoted this year.
"You have to be very patient," Dubas said of the strategy. "It's exciting to go out and bring in players longer-term who are very proven players. But those contracts can have varying impacts as you go. They feel good the day of, and everyone gives you a lot of credit the day of when you go and do those things. Then they play out as they will, some better than others."
It wasn't a signing, but one move Dubas made last year that would undoubtedly fit into that "others" category was the Smith trade, acquiring him in a trade with the Golden Knights for a third-round pick. It didn't work, and Smith was eating up $5 million in cap space. Dubas said on Friday that he wouldn't anticipate the Penguins making any traditional cap-dump trades, where a team attaches an asset like a pick or a prospect to a bad contract to entice another team to take the contract on. So he went about it in a different way -- the Penguins offloaded Smith, received a second- and fifth-round pick, and retained $1.25 million for next season.
"Our major focus is on trying to recoup future assets -- draft picks, prospects, younger players," Dubas said of the Smith trade. "We had a number of conversations with teams starting at the trade deadline, we elected to just hold. Then as this came along, the thinking was we gave up a third to get him. The offer that was there for the second and the fifth was essentially the toll for the retention."
That trade that undid the Smith acquisition was the thinking behind the Hayes trade, too. The Penguins took on Hayes for two more years at $3.5 million, gave up nothing to do so, and the Blues threw in a second-round pick for the Penguins' help. But Dubas thinks they're getting a real player back in Hayes, too.
"We think Kevin will come in and help," Dubas said. "We know it didn't go well or as planned for him last year in St. Louis, he and the team. He becomes available, and so we're excited to get to work with him. He's been an impactful player in the league for many years in the past with New York and Philadelphia. So we'll get to work with Kevin, get him rolling and look forward to that."
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The Penguins aren't done shaping the team going into next season. Dubas said that the Penguins have "two things on the go" right now.
"The one is that we have the remaining free agents that are still out there that we're sorting through on shorter term," Dubas said. "It would need to be somebody impactful and young shaking loose for us to go longer-term. And then, I think we also want to keep our cap space open in case those opportunities come through the summer."
One of those shorter-term deals the Penguins might still give out is to Joseph. The deadline to give Joseph a qualifying offer and retain his restricted free agent rights was on Sunday. The Penguins wanted Joseph back, but the potential arbitration case gave them pause, and Joseph didn't accept their initial offer. So, they didn't qualify him to avoid the risk of arbitration. Joseph is testing free agency, but the window isn't shut on a return.
"It's still open," Dubas said of the possibility of Joseph still signing. "We had said (to Joseph's camp), 'This is what we would do.' Otherwise, we probably weren't going to be qualifying. They elected not to take it and they could test the market out initially. With the number of similar players that were there, I thought it would be a slam dunk to qualify. But the situation changed, and we always have to be cognizant of that."
Dubas mentioned that there will still be opportunity for young players -- he named forwards Sam Poulin, Vasily Ponomarev in particular -- to earn spots.
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Where is this all going?
It's hard to say whether the Penguins are any better or worse than they were a week ago. Some of those moves made a year ago -- in particular acquiring Smith and signing Graves -- looked pretty OK on the surface, and ended up not being so OK when played out. Others, like the Eller signing, ended up working out maybe better than expected. Plus, as Dubas alluded to, more moves might still be coming. It all feels a little early to judge.
Is this Penguins team a playoff team next season? Tough to say. But that's not the big goal regardless. The goal is long-term, sustained success and a shot at making a real run. That might take a little longer.
"We're not looking to simply squeak into the playoffs," Dubas said. "It's to return the team to become a contender as soon as possible. Can we do that this season? Can we do that next season? It's hard to put a time frame on it. But this is obviously not a strip-it-down-to-the-studs situation here. The people in the room are too good for that."
One of those people in the room who are simply "too good" to allow the team to go full-rebuild just yet is Crosby. And he's staying involved in the process this summer, being kept in the loop by Dubas.
"With Sid he obviously holds an extremely special place here," Dubas said. "So it would be foolish for me not to keep in constant contact with him, let him know what we're thinking. ... He's here every day as well, so there's lots of easy communication with him. I think it's the best way to go about it, especially when we're going through something a little different than what everyone has been used to here since he arrived."
It's certainly a different direction than the Penguins have had in free agency in awhile. They're in a middle ground between bringing in the big free agents that will put them over the top to be contenders, and a full rebuild.
The moves today suggest that the Penguins are still "retooling." At least right now, this isn't a Stanley Cup contender. But the picks and prospects they've acquired in the process could go a long way toward helping the Penguins to eventually find long-term, sustained success again. The problem is that the core isn't getting any younger, and they can't wait too long for those young players to pan out and become contributors.
